The objective of this application is the development of a versatile, low cost confocal laser scanning microscope module with the following features: - Video image acquisition rate and display. - Vector scanning capability. - Sub raster (zoom) steerable within the entire field. - Adaptable to most commercial laboratory microscopes. - Distortion free image. Recent development in scanner technology, permits the design of special purpose scanners which enable the incorporation of these features to a laser scanning microscope. These are, triangular wave resonant scanners, reactionless resonant scanners and the "paddle scanner" configuration (which nearly eliminates any astigmatism from the system). Multiple beams scanning offers the benefits of efficient use of light source and detectors as well as simple image decoding.